“A Good Teacher”

Mark 1.21-28

Preached by Rev. Karen Hill

Sunday, January 29, 2012

When was the last time you sat in the classroom of a good teacher?  Who was that good teacher and what made him so good?  Was it the way she taught, was it her personality or the style of her teaching? Or was it the content of the lesson? 

I want you to keep your good teacher in mind this morning, as we look at this passage from Mark. 

It’s not a story that gets a lot of attention.  This is a small incident; Jesus is teaching in the synagogue when a man with an unclean spirit enters and Jesus casts out the spirit.  What hooked my attention was the description of Jesus as a teacher, one who teaches with authority.  A good teacher, you might say. 

We have lots of titles for Jesus.  Preacher, healer, savior, son of god, son of man, son of David, the Christ, and many more.  But teacher feels different somehow.  Teacher is hands-on, and it’s very human.  For Jesus to practice the art and the craft of teaching, makes him real. 

We all know teachers, don’t we?  Some of you are probably teachers.  Hopefully, each one of us has been blessed to learn under a really good teacher.  I’m sure we’ve each suffered under at least one bad one. 

In his book, The Courage to Teach, Parker Palmer[1] says that good teachers vary.  They come in all personalities, and they practice all styles of teaching; none of that seems to matter.  What matters is that a good teacher teaches with authenticity.  Good teachers teach themselves.  They join subject and self in such a way that it is personal; it really matters.  It’s a matter of identity and integrity.    

Good teachers may vary, but bad teachers are all alike in that they distance themselves from either their subject or their students.  Bad teachers stay as far from relationship with subject and students as possible. 

I’ve had good teachers in all kinds of subjects.  Even subjects I didn’t particularly like.  One of my worst teachers was in one of my favorite subjects, history. 

In high school, we were required to take California history, probably just like students here have to take New Mexico history.  On the first day, this teacher made it clear that he despised his students and was thoroughly bored with California history.  Our job was to come in, sit down and shut up.  Every day, the teacher filled the chalk boards with notes, which we were to copy down in total silence, exactly as written and then periodically he would check them and give us quizzes and tests.  This is what we did every day for an entire year.  It was awful.    As you can imagine, for many students it killed any love they might have for California history. 

I imagine that there were some who approached the Sabbath service that day at the synagogue with the same boredom, and maybe even the same dread, with which I approached California history.  Maybe some showed up expecting the same old, same old and were incredibly surprised to have Jesus knock their socks off – teaching them in a way that showed that faith really mattered to him and to them.  

When people heard Jesus teach, they knew that he was special.  His identity and his being were a part of his teaching, and Jesus taught what he knew.  He taught about God - his relationship with God and God’s love for humanity.

Mark tells us that the people in the synagogue that day were astounded at Jesus’ teaching.  But Mark doesn’t tell us what Jesus taught.  We have no idea what he said, if he was reading from the prophets, as we’ve seen him do in other Gospels, or if he was teaching something new.  But maybe it doesn’t matter.  Often we remember a good teacher long after we remember exactly what it was that he/she was saying.

When I was in college, I had a great teacher, a history professor.  He was Dutch, rode his bike to campus and wore clogs every day.  How much more Dutch can you be, right?!  I remember being in his Reformation History class one day, when he became so excited about something he was teaching that he jumped up on top of his stool, at least 3 or 4 feet off the ground and landed on it with both feet, while wearing clogs.  I have no idea what point he was trying to make, but I’ll never forget what he did.  It’s the only time I remember a class clapping for a professor. 

That kind of teaching is infectious; it’s energizing.  You want to go back to that class just to find out what’s going to happen next, and if you miss a class you know that you might miss something really great. 

I wonder if that’s how the disciples felt watching Jesus cleanse the temple of moneychangers.  They were watching Jesus make a very important and dramatic point, and I’m sure they never forgot it.

A good teacher brings him/herself to the subject in a way that makes it real.  Good teaching is not about a performance; it’s authentic.  It’s not about making the teacher look smart or educated, even though they are.[2]  Good teaching is subject centered, and it’s real.

One of the things that made Jesus such a powerful teacher was that he did not insert himself.  Jesus was there to teach about God; he was there to point to God.  He did this over and over.  When Jesus healed a person plagued by an evil spirit or a disease, he did it in God’s power.  When Jesus helped a blind man see or a paralyzed man walk, he was showing the compassion of the kingdom of God.  When Jesus healed a bleeding woman and brought a child back to life, it was always to point to God, not to himself.[3] 

Jesus didn’t need the attention.  He shunned it, in fact.  Asking people over and over not to tell anyone about the miracles.  Jesus’ purpose was always to direct attention to God, to the kingdom and to the gospel message.  Maybe that’s part of what made Jesus so different. 

Mark says that Jesus taught as one having authority, not like the scribes.  Authority is an interesting word.  We equate authority with power.  We call people “the authorities,” and we mean people in positions of power.  People who can tell others what to do and make sure that it’s done.  We need authorities to help maintain an orderly and just society, but that’s not what this word means in the book of Mark. 

When Jesus taught as one having authority, it’s a different kind of authority.  It’s not power, which comes from outside oneself.  It’s discipline and strength of character, which can only come from within, from inside oneself.  That’s Jesus’ authority.[4] 

We all know what the other kind of authority looks like – the bad teacher who doesn’t like his/her students, and is probably a little afraid of them, and who, consequently, has to resort to threats of bad grades or detentions or trips to the principal to back up his power.    Contrast that with the teacher who can engage a classroom full of the same rowdy students, and maintain discipline without any threats.  That’s natural authority. 

Students bring all sorts of personal problems to the classroom.  They can make it very hard to teach.  But students with issues don’t necessarily create bad teachers. I’m not sure anyone had harder students then Jesus. 

In the Gospel of Mark, the disciples never get Jesus.[5]  Jesus is constantly asking them, “Do you not know, have you not heard?”  And these were the students who liked him and wanted to learn. 

When Jesus teaches a parable in Mark, he has to take the disciples aside and explain it to them privately.  They do not get it the first time, and they need constant tutoring.  

But like a doctor who cannot refuse to see sick patients, because they make her statistics look bad, a good teacher cannot give up on slow learners.[6]  They need a good teacher.  So, Jesus cannot and does not give up on the disciples, or on us.  It takes enormous time and patience, but Jesus is there.  A large part of good teaching is the teacher’s relationship with and commitment to his/her students.     

Parker Palmer goes on to say that “good teaching is an act of hospitality toward the young.”[7]  Isn’t that beautiful? 

One of my seminary professors was an extremely well-known and well-respected leader in the Presbyterian Church.  He’s written many books, which are used as seminary textbooks and as curriculum in adult Sunday school classes all over the country.  He went on to serve as a moderator of the Presbyterian Church and traveled around the world representing us.  At the same time, he was one of the most humble and gracious teachers I’ve ever met.  He welcomed students and learned our names and our stories.  He extended hospitality to young seminarians long after he needed us to further his career.  His hospitality was deep and genuine. 

Jesus demonstrates this type of hospitality throughout the gospel of Mark.  Jesus fed the 5,000, rather than sending them home hungry.  He welcomed the children when his disciples tried to shoo them away.  He healed lepers.  In Mark 12 when a scribe asks him, which commandment is first of all?  Jesus replies, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”[8] 

It’s an excellent summary of the gospel, for a very good teacher. 

Recently I heard a thought-provoking interview with a journalist, Christopher Hedges.[9] Chris Hedges has worked as a foreign correspondent for the The Christian Science Monitor and The New York Times, among others.  He is the son of a Presbyterian Minister and also received a Master of Divinity degree from Harvard.    In this interview, he was very critical of mainline Christian churches, including the Presbyterian Church.  He feels that we have given Jesus to the religious right and have allowed them to serve as the only public Christian voice in the United States.

He spoke specifically about the court battles that fundamentalist Christians are fighting over the removal of the 10 Commandments from courtrooms.  Hedges said that it would be a whole different thing if Christians were fighting to keep Jesus’ greatest teachings posted in public places.  What if those plaques had the Beatitudes on them or the Golden Rule?  Now, I don’t know how you feel about this, but I’m not interested in fighting to keep the 10 Commandments in place.  I’m not sure I want to fight over the Beatitudes or the Golden Rule, as I firmly believe in the separation of church and state, but I hear what he’s saying.  Do we care about the deepest and best teachings of our faith?  Would we speak up for Jesus? 

Then, a second thing happened.  This past week I taught a class on “The Brief Statement of Faith” from our Book of Confessions[10] with our Presbytery’s college group.  In “The Brief Statement of Faith”, it says that, “the Spirit gives us courage to pray without ceasing, to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior, to unmask idolatries in Church and culture, to hear the voices of peoples long silenced, and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace. “[11]  end quote.  It’s a big statement with a long to-do list, right?

Well, one of the young women spoke up, saying how much she really liked this part of the Statement, because the church is NOT courageous anymore, and it doesn’t do these things. 

Coming right on top of what I heard Chris Hedges say, it made me stop and listen.   Our young people don’t think the church is courageous; they think we are cowards.   We don’t speak up for what we know is right; we allow the fundamentalist fringe to have the only public Christian voice, and we don’t lay claim to Jesus’ teaching.  No one else in the room disagreed with what she said, so I have to think that most, if not all of them, agreed with her. 

I want to pay close attention when one of our young people, who are a definite minority in the church, tells us exactly what she thinks.  I want to pay close attention even when what she says may be hard to hear and even harder to swallow.

As a teacher, Jesus appealed to our hearts, our minds and our wills.  For Jesus it was never enough just believe the right things or know the right things; it was always about doing the right things.  In Mark 8, Jesus goes on to say, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”[12] 

I wonder what it means for us to follow this Jesus, the Jesus who challenges and pushes us.  In a time of great change in the national and local church, what does it mean to claim Jesus, to take seriously his teachings and to follow him?  I wonder what it might look like to re-commit to public dialogue on issues that really matter.  When you’ve spent time with a really good teacher, how can you ignore his teaching?  It becomes a part of you. 

And so my prayer for me and for you and for our church is that the Spirit might  give us new courage to live up to Jesus’ teaching, to be the people that God calls us to be and that our young hope we will be….Amen.